been a common theme rolling around in my head this week. It’s the idea of “balance” and what a “normal life” is supposed to look like. I see people walking their dogs at the same time every morning and older couples that take a nightly jog together. We live close to a little league park and I see families pull in every Tuesday night for games and then probably head home to get homework done before bedtime. Some couples we know get to relax every Saturday. Saturday’s are “normal” people’s day to do LIFE stuff. Like running to the grocery store, yard work, visiting family, shopping with friends, etc etc. But that isn’t my life…my job AND
Michael’s job as a youth pastor creates a really CRAZY schedule for our life. Michael has some continuity to his day to day job but for me… EVERY week is different. There is no set pattern or routine except for blogging daily. Some weeks I’m traveling a lot…. some weeks I’m working 9-6 in the office… some weeks I have a strange mixture of the two. I’ll admit that when I see other’s with a “normal” life…. I get a little jealous. I would love to have a routine some days. I’d love to know what each day will look like well in advance but that’s not my life. Michael and I have talked a lot about our future and what it’s going to look like. We find ourselves saying things like “Well when we have kids, we’ll have a more NORMAL life, right?”. Well what is NORMAL? It’s not NORMAL to have 15 teenagers over to the house all the time… it’s not NORMAL to spend an hour or two blogging each day… and it’s not NORMAL to have a schedule that’s so crazy you never know which end is up… but this is OUR NORMAL.
Brian Wurzell told us over dinner one night in Vegas that maybe our lives aren’t supposed to be NORMAL. What is NORMAL? Who created NORMAL? We did. Society did. Sometimes Michael and I find ourselves thinking about a “normal” lifestyle but to be honest, I doubt the grass is really greener on the other side. We love our life… as crazy as it is, it’s ours…. and for this season, we know that we’re where God wants us. If we’re truly living a life for the Lord… then our life shouldn’t be normal at all. So as I have been thinking about the “Normal-ness” of our life this week, I’ve realized this. Being NORMAL shouldn’t be our focus…. instead, we need to focus on being OBEDIENT. At the end of my life, I don’t want to say to the Lord… “Welp, I think we did well! We sure lived a normal life!”. No, I want to be able to look back on my life and say “We took risks…. we had crazy schedules…and we tried our best to follow Your lead… even when things didn’t make sense… even when life was SO far from NORMAL. We were obedient and our love for You trumped our desire for NORMALCY”. So am I saying we’ll NEVER spend nights at the Little League park or take nightly walks as an old married couple? No. That may be our life one day! …. But that’s not our life right now and I’m ok with that. :) Now being “Normal” and being “Balanced” are two different things! I’m still working on the “balanced” part! :) That’s for another post! I saw a quote on facebook that said “A lot of things are ruined because of our opinion of how they SHOULD be”. Welp, I don’t want to be the person that falls into that trap. So today, I’m practicing being CONTENT… and I’m liking it:)
So happy Friday to all of you out there!!! And just to make this post a little more interesting… here are some recent features! Thanks to What’s Up Wedding for featuring Brittany and Harry’s gorgeous Vineyard wedding in Maryland last fall!!
And this is rather funny… it wins the “smallest feature ever” Award! But I love it! The national Knot used one of our reception shots for their latest issue and it makes me smile! See Daddy, I told you those birdcages for worth it!! Huge thanks to the Wedding Chicks for featuring my last workshop!! So honored to have Bev and Craig’s gorgeous wedding featured on Southern Weddings!! Below you’ll see a screenshot from facebook! The Knot tagged me in this photo but you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that were messaging me saying “Is that you?! Isn’t that your wedding?! KK 101010 is on FB!” Cracks me up!! Love that 101010 is still out there a little bit:)P31 Conference! Check it out!A year ago, we promised to find a solution for those who were complaining about their R6 raw files looking dull and lifeless in Lightroom. However, due to various circumstances, we couldn’t deliver on that promise until now.
Kelly is an incredible wedding photographer who has been shooting 90 weddings a year. I know, it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true! Kelly’s success and the volume of work she handles is truly impressive.
Your sessions should be working FOR you not against you!